Harvesting yellow pike eggs begins with spawners taken from the wild. For more details on natural spawning, following the link on the egg harvesting image. Our station is also involved in developing parental lineages.

Due to difficulties related to the species and its needs, yellow pike breeding in Quebec is still at the marginal level.

Others factors are:

• Their natural genetics
• Pike at the larva stage are very vulnerable
• Their high level of predator behavior
• Their live feed requirement, implying a second breeding, and related limitations
• They are a cannibal fish
• They live in warm water, leading to other problems
• Little is known about their diseases and useful remedies
• Expertise in Quebec is very limited

Yellow pike breeding and its requirements mean finding new techniques and new production systems.

After hatching from eggs, the larvae are counted and moved on to either of the two production systems, meaning open-ended or intensive. The pike can then be seeded for any size.

Fish size can vary slightly, depending on temperature

You can seed Yellow Pike to the desired size.
Given that demand always exceeds supply, you should reserve your Yellow Pike before the season begins.
*Yellow pike prices can vary according to success rates*.

E-mail: station3lacs@yahoo.com
Telephone: (819) 828-0631; Pager: (819) 573-8401

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Yellow pike is a warm-water fish, thus they live in warmer water than do salmon. They migrate to productive environments and also to warm waters of lakes and rivers. They can share their habitat with salmon provided there is an abundance of live food.

In Quebec, the seeding of yellow pike is prohibited in certain catchment areas, according to those defined by a fish breeding zoning system. In addition, a permit is required to transport and seed this species. Procedures required by the authorities can be handled by us.

 

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Open-ended production system :

Larvae are seeded in an outdoor pond that is fertilized for the production of live food (zooplancton), through optimization of the food chain.
Predator control and breeding parameters are applied over a period of 6 to 8 weeks. Yellow pike about 2 inches in size are then transferred to interior basins to be weaned on dry food.

 

The intensive production system :

Larvae are seeded in closed circuit basins where the water is recirculated (mechanical and organic filtering.)
Breeding of micro-organisms is required in order to maintain breeding parameters and the feeding of pike larvae.
After 50 to 60 days, the pike are weaned with artificial food so they will continue to grow.